Monday, December 07, 2009

The countdown to the world's most beautiful game June 2010 has officially begun. And that means we're gonna be surrounded by news, articles, advertisements, promotions..you name it, they've got it.

Mine comes in the form of an email from Emirates airline. Have you booked your package for the 2010 FIFA World Cup? Apparently they are offering an all-inclusive package ie flights, match tickets, accommodations and transfers to and from the stadium. All you need to do is sign up, select your package and let them worry about the rest. No hassle, no fuss, just need your Visa or MasterCard.

Curious how much a trip will cost, I tried booking...

Page 1: Package searchYou get to select your base camp ie the city where you will stay and it doesn't have to be some "ulu" place just because your selected match is gonna be conducted there. Uh-uh, you can stay wherever you want in S. Africa and you will be transferred (by road or by AIR) to and from your matches. Very convenient I must say..

Which team? England(if it wasn't already obvious)Which match? England vs USABase camp? Cape Town(where all 2012 survivors will head and it's not called cape of good hope for nothing)Class of travel? Okla just economy will do.Hotel? 2 star or more (cheapest choice avail.)

I din go further. There isn't a need, not after a look at the starting prices!

Suddenly it hit me. How much am I actually paying for the match tix alone? And what feng-shui seat will I be getting? What if they just assign me some crappy-nobody-wants-to-buy seat (though I believe it's gonna be packed), 3 stories high from the field and players look like dots scurrying around but charge me with a crazy amount? I want my money's worth!

Turns out there was nothing to be concerned about. The FAQ states

Q. What type of match tickets are on offer? Are they premium seats within the stadium?A. The Emirates 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa packages provide CAT01 tickets for all matches, at any of the participating stadiums. Please see diagram below depicting CAT01 seating in blue.

Premium seats they are indeed.And right below that, a question catches my eye:

Q. I want to watch the game but my wife doesn't. Can I buy part of the ticket?

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Went to watch this a few weeks back and I found it pretty touching. A genetic disorder caused Henry to time travel randomly. He cannot control the place or the time period. It could be the future or it could be the past. He met his future wife one day who already loved him all her life as Clare first met Henry as a child. And the film is about how they both tried their best to lead normal lives and the challenges they faced.

The ending was kinda sad which was what made the movie so moving. And they told me the ending's different in the book and that it was better than the movie's. I've not read the book yet although I'm not sure if a happy ending is what I would prefer. Cause well in life, not everything gets a happily ever after. And they serve to remind us to never take anything for granted.

Oh, and did I say that the film took place in Chicago? Ahh..the skyline brought on a sense of familiarity and it felt good :)

Sunday, November 22, 2009

I was told Chicago was famous for deep dish pizza. I was reminded a few times to go try it. "A MUST TRY!" she said. Even went as far as to prepare a map with the restaurant marked in a big red X for me.

So I took a train to Chicago one Saturday, asked around for the location of the famous Giordano's and waited 35 minutes (dat's rite thirty-five minutes) for 1 personal stuffed pizza.

I only managed 1 slice. When I asked for the bill and a box, the waiter was shocked by the leftovers. "ONLY 1 SLICE??!" I smiled an embarrassed smile and mumbled that I had a train to catch. In truth, I was so full and even that first slice was hard work! Plus it wasn't as good as I thought it would be after all the praises she sang about it.

Anyway this one's for you, Soo Huey :P

Updated: My SD card corrupted on me so I dun have a cloud gate picture of my own. Anyway here's one from the web (I purposely chose the best angle and view so it'll look fascinating..must give face shuey ma lol). Image courtesy of dabonbb. And as you can see, it is just a blob of bean-shape liquid-like mirror :P

Thursday, November 05, 2009

It's been ages since I reviewed a movie. So here's one I watched recently, my first in a cinema in weeks!

Inglourious Basterds is a war film set in WWII during the Nazi occupation in France but with an alternate historical universe. It covers two plots to assassinate the Nazi political leadership (Hitler and gang), one by a French Jewish woman (whose family was killed when she was young) and another by a group of American soldiers known as the Basterds (led by Brad Pitt). The film is shown in chapters, each chapter bringing the viewers closer to the planned D-Day.

At the start, the film was serious, tense and sad even. I mean how could war be a joyous occasion, right? However, the film got hilarious toward the end which I thought was a perfect way to end things. I had a good laugh watching the characters and listening to their dialogues (yes, it was a more dialog less action type of movie but sit through it and you will be well-rewarded). I also loved how they made use of different languages in 1 film - French, German, English. Reading English subtitles was never this fun before :)

But the most outstanding of all was Christopher Waltz's character - Standartenführer Hans Landa aka "The Jew Hunter" (yup, even Brad Pitt was overshadowed!) He was nicknamed so due to his keen ability to think like a Jew and therefore never failed to locate them.

Landa was the bad guy and you honestly wanted to hate him but you just couldn't help yourself to like and laugh with him. Waltz played Landa to perfection and the film would not be the same without him. Even Quentin Tarantino, the director of the film acknowledged so;

"I think that Landa is one of the best characters I've ever written and ever will write, and Christoph played it to a tee… It's true that if I couldn't have found someone as good as Christoph I might not have made Inglourious Basterds."[taken from Inglourious Basterds feature]

And for that delightful character, Waltz won the best actor award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Recommended to watch :)

Thursday, October 29, 2009

My sleep pattern is programmed. Most of the time I don't need the alarm clock to wake me up unless on really tired days/nites..I usually find myself up ahead of the alarm clock on weekdays. On weekends, I used to wake up at 9.30am until I moved last year. Then my time readjusted and I can finally tell me ppl I sleep till almost noon now :P (Everyone was always asking y did I wake up so early during the weekends?)

At first I was worried about jetlag during my trip to the US. Luckily for me, I din have any..I was awake when it was light outside and slept when it was dark. Only one funny change happened to me.

I went to outlet stores on my first day and only got back to the hotel around 8/9in the evening. I guess after the long-haul flight, I was exhausted so I took a nap before waking up again at 10pm. Lo and behold that pattern stuck with me for the next 2wks! Every nite without fail, I needed to nap at around 8/9. When I thought it was ok to just rest my eyes for 10seconds, it was 10pm the nxt minute...Nap place? Always the sofa.And I so wanted to watch all the primetime shows - BigBangTheory, HIMYM, SUPERNATURAL but guess what, primetime TV was between 8-9pm every night! Supernatural was on Thursday and that ep had Paris Hilton as guest star. I made sure I was back at the hotel in front of the TV by then and ooh Dean and Sam appeared on screen..what better way to spend one's evening, eh?

Monday, October 19, 2009

Wondering why the same old picture? Yup, coz I'm stuck at the same old place - yet again. Different lounge but still as boring....no free wifi, stuck with using public PCs. Lucky thing, there's a row of them around so nobody has to wait for their turn. Also, no view in this supposedly international lounge hmmph :/ ..At least the AA lounge had a view.

Oh and when I touched down @ LAX earlier, I think I saw Leann Rimes and beau. I was on the way to the restroom when I saw a couple coming out from a side entrance, an airline employee showing them the way plus a man that looked like a bodyguard escorting them. I wasn't sure if it was her until I went to google her pix later as well as the bf's pic, just to be sure LOL

Too bad it wasn't the Beckhams, I'm sure I would have been able to recognize them from a mile away XD

5hrs to go.....

Updated: And for anyone who might be interested, the Houston Dynamo vs LA Galaxy match ended 0-0. Becks PLAYED full 90mins and got a yellow card toward the end. So it might not have been a very exciting match but I could have had the chance to see becks live in action for 1.5hrs of my life :P Oh well....

back to reality, I am sweating in the heat that is Hong Kong. 6hrs to go....

Monday, October 05, 2009

I am finally settled in the hotel and all ready to go to bed...once I'm done scribbling here :)

The entire trip here had all mainly been about 1 thing - WAITING; waiting to transit, waiting for a room to become available, waiting for this and waiting for that. Even finished the 1 book i brought along. Guess gotta buy another 1 for the trip back :P

Also got my car, Chevy. Never driven one before but so far so good. No probs driving on the left side either [though when i first got the car, my left hand automatically wanted to shift the gears and my right hand automatically went to the signaling switch which was actually the wiper switch XD]

And their speed limit is a bit weird.. I see signs saying Speed Limit 55 but those cars that overtook me on the left was definitely wayyy faster than that. Apparently you'll have to at least follow the flow of the traffic otherwise you are considered as obstructing traffic o_O

Thursday, September 24, 2009

And BC’s Precious Black is a little over-rated I must say. Sold out almost everywhere. A bite and “OK-OK nia”. Yet to try the other flavors though namely blueberry cheese, tiramisu, chestnut japanese jingsa (don’t even know what’s that) and chocolate peanut.

LOL btw this phrase was also over-used during the Ipoh yat yat yau (one day tour).

Foh San Dim Sum? Not worth it if you had to be waiting for tables and pressuring ppl to leave their tables or a possible sitting war with the lady who insisted she was there first…Char Koay Kak thumbsdwn, Chee Cheong Fun thumbsdwn, Por Lor Pao thumbsdwn, Char Siew Pao thumbsdwn (rating from Pao King himself), Siew Mai, Loh Mai Kai etc etc, common and nothing special.

Funny Mountain Tau Fu Fah? Only served with sugar syrup. I usually have mine with gula melaka syrup. After the tau fu fah, the soya bean drink felt tasteless..

Nam Heong Kopi? The white kopi peng tasted like well kopi peng. Never been a fan of Old Town anyway.

Yong Tao Fu Under Tree? Dried Yong Tau Fu ie. all the items were deep-fried. Since all deep-fried items are delicious regardless :P this was the only one we felt were great. Cheap price helped too! However I find dipping it with laksa soup only without any other sauce a bit weird so I took mine dry. And the laksa, more hei-koh (black prawn paste) needed.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

I realized I had a bunch of emails in my inbox/sent items that I never deleted, some dating back to year 2004 (Subject: Welcome to Yahoo!) Looking through them sent a wave of nostalgia over me..I din even remember receiving/replying to some of those emails! A nice way to walk down memory lane though. And nop, not deleting most of them yet; not unless my mailbox is over-limit (very unlikely…)

Thursday, September 03, 2009

I always wonder why mosquitoes like me more than others. I get bitten for no reason whilst the rest mostly go by itch-free. My mum will then say my blood must tastes sweeter...

The only one person who surpasses me is Patsy. Mosquitoes "heart" her more than me LOL. Thus I make it a point to be around her whenever there are outings with those blood-suckers featured as side entertainment.

Then I chanced upon this article yesterday - "Mosquito Bites: The Real Reason Some People Are Immune." (Click on image for full article)

And APPARENTLY, I am not stressed-out enough!

So my body does not release a certain stress odor to a level enough to not only cover up the "I am tasty, come bite me for free" cocktail of odors but also repels mosquitoes at the same time. Instead mosquitoes are attracted to me like moths are to lamps.

A good (or Bad) thing though, at the rate I am currently going, I think mosquitoes will soon find that I no longer suit their taste...

Sunday, August 30, 2009

District 9 started off documentary-style. Handy cam footages, archive news videos, and interview snippets were used to explain how aliens finally made contact with Earth. However rather than the more superior race, more advanced tech, or war-on-earth stuff we'd been fed with from all the alien films out there, these aliens were malnourished and unable to leave as their mother ship appeared to have broken down. Instead of us fearing for our lives or bowing to them, we had to evacuate them from their ship and provide a refugee-like camp for them in what came to be known as District 9.

Fast forward 30 yrs to present day, us human beings being selfish lots decided we'd had enough of them and now wanted them to move out, to go back to wherever they came from because they were now invading our space and our land. As such MNU, an agency tasked with controlling the alien containment, decided to relocate them to a new refugee camp, 240km away from town. A team was sent in to serve out eviction notices and we followed them around the slums of District 9 - hand-held camera style. But of course, there was always a hidden agenda. And things went wrong..terribly wrong.

Because there will be those who wanted power, who wanted great stuff for themselves at the expense of others. Those who would go to any extend to get what they want and at whatever cost, even if it meant having to dissect one of our own. (Well, he might not had been fully one of our own by then but he was still very much so in heart, in mind and perhaps 90% in body.)

District 9 is one thought provoking film that knows how to stir up our emotions; disbelief, horror, humor, fear, pity, even shame. And it creatively breaks away from the Hollywood-led alien genre where usually major cities are targeted - think New York or Washington D.C. Also the visuals were great. That alien mother ship hovering in the city backdrop looked and felt remarkably real that it kinda scared me. It was so, well so alien. And the aliens themselves were scary too but at the same time it was a lil' funny to see how 'humanized' some of their behaviors were.

Sadly toward the end of the film, the documentary framework had to be discarded because it no longer made sense. You couldn't have a cameraman following a wanted man, could you?

Oh, and the next time these prawns come back and declare war on us, we only have ourselves to blame really. Till then, we can only live on with the image of one of them crafting a flower out of metal...

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

"Wholemeal toast topped with soft cheese and sliced banana makes the perfect breakfast/brunch and is especially delicious when drizzled with honey. It's quick and easy to make, and provides a delicious start to any day" ...just like it did mine this morning :)

What You Need:(Serves 4)

4 thick slices of wholemeal bread

Soft white cheese / Plain cheese spread

4 small bananas, peeled

4tsp clear honey

What To Do:

Place the slices of bread on a toaster and toast until one side is golden brown.

Spread the untoasted side of each slice with cheese spread.

Slice the bananas and arrange the slices on top of the cheese, then drizzle each slice with 1tsp of the clear honey.

Monday, August 10, 2009

I have heard of the famous Singapore drama The Little Nyonya which came out in 2008 but I never actually thought of watching it. Not until Astro decided to screen it with replays at 12am week nights! I started following but to sleep at 1am on working days was a huge sacrifice. Not anymore when I discovered a friend's DVD box set. I chased the entire drama and completed it in less than a week LOL. Astro is still just half-way through by the way :P

Anyway yup, I have to agree it's an interesting drama which revolves around the Baba Nyonya culture during the 1930s. To be honest, I have never followed Spore drama or series but only the occasional comedy ala Money Not Enough and PCK Pte Ltd genres. So kudos for a drama that finally caught my attention. The cast were pretty convincing in their actings and I must say I really hated the guts of the villains.

However it is also a little frustrating to see the not so Happily Ever After ending. And some of the actions and thoughts are pretty mind-boggling. I'll be like o_O "Oh, come on"..Do the people in that era really have such naive thinkings and such filial piety, I wonder? Not to say filial piety is not good but too one-sided either way is not the way to go I would say. Oh, and women in Baba culture led pretty sad and dull lives unless you became the matriarch of the house. Then you had all the say. Plus I notice some loopholes in the storyline and fyi, they are also listed on wikipedia LOL

Anyway, again I must say the ending isn't what I would have hoped for. Worse they came out with an extended episode which many thought was supposed to be the alternate ending. Instead, they went on to emphasize the original ending. Kinda lame-ler. There are speculations of a possible sequel that will twist the existing ending to create even more drama. To me, it's just an excuse to prolong the story, garner more viewers and ultimately higher ratings. Though if it's really out, I guess I would watch it anyway :P

Lastly I must touch on the themes. All 3 songs featured are pretty nice and I like the 2nd subtheme the most. A sad song and when played during the sad scenes, it up the sadness a notch further. Sang by JS, it's called Xu Yao (Need). I particularly like the 2 lines in the chorus:

Ai shi yi zhong xu yao, que bu ying ding yao de daoLove is a type of need, it's not a must to get itZhi yao ni jue de kuai le jiu haoIt's good as long as you feel happy